10:45 am – 11:15 am Virtual Reality panel
Perhaps nothing is so hyped this year as virtual reality. But just how real is it? In this panel, composed of hands-on professionals in VFX and 3D, we learn about actual VR projects and how they were made, as well as discuss the technology obstacles and production challenges.
Moderator: Debra KaufmanPhilip Lelyveld, VR/AR Initiative, USC Entertainment Technology CenterSteve Schklair, 3ality/TechnicaStuart English, Nokia

11:15 am – 11:45 am Deep Space Exploration: Technology Challenges for Motion Imagery Acquisition and Distribution -Rodney Grubbs, NASA
NASA is now making preliminary plans for deep space human exploration, likely starting with development of a presence at a Lagrange point, and then, after sorties to the Moon or asteroids, embarking on a crewed mission to Mars or one its moons. NASA and its international partners would of course want to virtually take everyone on Earth along for the ride. But the space environment presents many challenges for the use of commercial motion-image technologies—radiation, operation in a vacuum, and extreme temperatures being just the obvious ones. And then there’s getting the imagery from Mars to the public.

11:45 am – 12:15 pm Big Data, Big Dollars for Post in an OTT World -
How clients in Over the Top TV distribution are creating a large demand for “big data” that is created in film & TV production. The Post production process is key for “conforming” the data the same way a post facility conforms movies for deliverables. The licensing of the metadata will become as valuable as the licensing of the moving image itself with the correct license model. Production needs to shift from seeing the collection and management of data as a cost and instead view data already being collected as a potential new revenue stream.Steve Wong, Siemens, and Christy King, Media Tech Consultant

8:45 am – 9:45 am Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Ben Rosenblatt
The co-producer of the box-office record-breaking movie talks about the making of Star Wars: The Force Awakens and how Bad Robot, Lucasfilm, and Disney finished this iconic film shot on film and finished in film, 2D, 3D, IMAX 3D, Dolby Vision EDR 2D, and Dolby Vision EDR 3D and mixed for 7.1, Atmos, and IMAX, made under the tightest security controls of any film in history.

9:45 am – 1:05 pm HDR Power Session – coordinated by Annie Chang, Disney
No, this isn’t a session on how much power is consumed by a High Dynamic Range TV, but this morning session will cover several burning topics in regards to HDR in a very short amount of time. First, we’ll have a short primer on HDR to level set and then dive into five different panels/groups of presentations about the following topics:
- HDR Production Workflow: What do we need to know on-set to create HDR content?
- HDR Post-Production Workflow: Post and mastering for HDR
- HLG and PQ: Why can’t acronyms get along? Or can they?
- HDR Consumer Displays and Environment
- Other Deep Thoughts on HDR: to generate even more questions

4:00 pm – 5:00 pm Your Guide to Next-Gen Cloud Workflows -
The Entertainment Technology Center at USC is hosting the industry’s discussion about tools and production cloud implementation. This panel features a number of specific technologies and technologists enabling practical production work in the cloud and an example of a project that was set to understand some of the technologies and challenges.
Moderator: Erik Weaver, Entertainment Technology Center, USCJeff Greenwald, HGSTRashid Desai, AvidJoshua Kolden, Studio Pyxis

9:15 am – 9:45 am Post-Production Technology by Disney Research – Aljosa Smolic, Disney Research Zurich
An overview of the activities of Disney Research Zurich in post-production technology for cinema and television with an emphasis on recent achievements in HDR and WCG

Noon – 12:50 pm Post-Retreat Treat
Crossing the Border: In 1877, eight descriptions of what we would call television appeared on both sides of the Atlantic, and there’s never been a year since then without television descriptions. Before 1877, however, there were none. What happened? It involved a surgeon who called himself “wildman,” a reporter’s wild speculation, and the first artificial eyelid. Mark Schubin promises to show actual video!